Aston Villa’s new midfield dynamo has hailed Lee Westwood as his sporting hero after bursting onto the Premier League scene.

But Ashley Westwood is not talking about the superstar golfer – he is referring to his own big brother, Lee, who has helped him kick on in football.

Westwood admits Lee is his inspiration in the game after putting sibling rivalry aside to help him despite having his own promising career ended by injury.

Like Ashley, older brother Lee also came up through the ranks at Crewe and was hoping to make his name at Gresty Road in the same age-group as Dean Ashton Seth Johnson.

But after enjoying youth team success with the famous Dario Gradi academy his dreams were dashed when he broke his leg and was forced to hang up his boots.

Villa’s Westwood admits his brother’s bitter experience has helped him put his own career in perspective and given him the motivation and focus to swap League One for the Premier League.

It certainly appears to be working so far with the 21-year-old midfielder winning a regular first team place and a growing band of admirers with his precise passing in recent weeks.

“My brother Lee, who is 30, was in Dean Ashton’s year at Crewe so it was a good crop of players he was with,” said Westwood.

“He got to the FA Youth Cup final against Arsenal, so it’s in the family. He played as a winger or a forward.

“But he had a stress fracture and it didn’t work out for him. He was big mates with Seth Johnson so he was up at Leeds with him a lot.

“My brother has been brilliant, a lot of brothers could be jealous, but he helps me in a lot of ways and he’s really proud of me.”

Westwood, who was signed from Crewe on transfer deadline day, admits football is in his blood having started to enjoy kickabouts as a toddler with his father Kevin, a nifty non-league player.

“It began with my dad throwing a ball at me when I was 18 months and I’d be volleying it back into his hands!” smiled Westwood.

“We’d got the Crewe academy on the doorstep, which for a young kid is one of the best academies around.

“It’s just bred into you to play football. He played for Stafford Rangers and for Bangor around the non league scene so he’s been about football. He was a winger or a forward, like my brother.”

Westwood has won praise from Villa boss Paul Lambert for his efficient use of the ball since forcing his way into the starting line up for the win at Sunderland last month.

But the former Crewe captain insists he is merely practising what his Alex coaches preached as he progressed through the youth set up at his boyhood club.

“We’ve done it from kids at Crewe the way we keep the ball,” said Westwood.

“Barcelona’s the perfect example. When they lose it, everyone is at it to get the ball back and I think that’s something we need to do here.

“I get it off the back four, keep it simple, knock it out wide. I’ve got good long range passing too, so hopefully I can bring that to the team.”

But Westwood insists there is more to his game than just keeping possession and after claiming an assist for Villa’s winner against Reading in midweek is keen to create and score more.

“My pressuring is quite good,” he said. “Obviously the fitness is going to be a big issue, moving up it’s going to take me a few more months to get to that standard, but that’s really basically me.

“A box-to-box midfielder who keeps the ball, creates chances and I just need to score a few more goals now.

“I don’t like the game to pass me by. I’m not just a flash in the pan. I don’t pull ‘worldies’ off for two minutes and then go missing for the rest of the game. I like to be constantly involved in the game.”

Westwood struggled during a second half substitute appearance in Villa’s 4-1 defeat at Southampton but he is now confident he is getting up to speed with the demands of playing in the Premier League.

“The tempo is a lot higher and the quality,” he added. “It’s one and two touch, but that is my game so the quickness of my thinking is just going to come from playing with better players. That will bring me on and is something I’m looking forward to.”